Chapter 1461: Chapter 1459: Clumsy Command?
A bit later.
The temporary staff headquarters tent.
The Military God Soron was looking at the sand table, with several staff members standing straight beside him.
After a while, Soron looked away and asked a staff member, "How’s the progress on the left and right routes?"
The staff member quickly responded, "It’s going relatively smoothly. The left route has already reached near Muro City in the Grey Rock Territory, and the right route has just crossed the Cold Bone River. They haven’t encountered any major obstructions and are likely to achieve their objectives as planned."
Soron nodded upon hearing this, "That’s good."
"However, General, compared to the left and right routes, we’re facing significant issues with the center route; our progress has been severely impeded," the staff member continued.
"Oh? Elaborate," Soron said.
"Yes," the staff member began seriously. "Almost from the moment we encountered the fleeing soldiers, Shalin started to obstruct our center route. They haven’t launched any large-scale attacks but instead engaged in frequent small-scale infiltrations, destroying many of our camps and severely delaying our march."
"Infiltration and sabotage? We can’t defend against this?" Soron frowned and asked.
The staff member shook his head with a slight wry smile, "As of now, we really can’t defend against it. Because of the need to supplement the left and right route forces, and with the rear forces yet to arrive, we currently have only sixty thousand troops on the center route.
According to your instructions, to prevent a large-scale Spell attack from the Shalin Wizards, our marching forces have been dispersed. This has apparently given Shalin an opportunity, allowing them to find defensive gaps within our formations and infiltrate our center, and even our rear, to cause havoc.
The most important issue is that they’re deploying their Black Knights, that is, their Magic Knights, with dozens of them at a time. It’s very difficult for us to fend them off with regular guard forces, and using Magic Knights or other elite forces means we can’t protect everywhere—after all, many of our Magic Knights have been dispatched to the left and right routes, as have the Wizards."
"So, you’re saying Shalin is using exceptionally valuable Magic Knights to try to slow down our center route’s advance?" Soron’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
The staff member spoke up, "This is exactly what our staff department can’t fathom. Logically, the Shalin Black Knights are a highly valuable elite force. Concentrating such a force for a major assault on us would pose a significant threat. Yet, Shalin hasn’t done this. Instead, they’ve scattered them out to conduct high-frequency, small-scale infiltration operations.
We’ve suffered significant losses, with many of our assets destroyed. I’ve heard that some battalions’ granaries were burned, leaving them hungry. But Shalin isn’t much better off, and they might even be saying their losses are greater.
After all, they’re engaging in infiltration operations, and once exposed, there’s virtually no chance of escape. In fact, none of the Black Knights seem to have a plan for retreat; they fight to the last moment until they’re killed.
From a comprehensive standpoint, we actually have the upper hand. The lost assets can soon be replenished from the rear, and the hungry troops can hold out with some assistance from allied forces. Conversely, for Shalin, such high-end elite forces like the Black Knights can’t be infinite, and their numbers will only dwindle with continued losses. Once we truly attack Shalin, I fear they won’t be able to defend against a charge by any of our troops larger than their Magic Knights.
This leaves our staff department deeply puzzled, as Shalin’s current behavior is completely inconsistent with their usual leadership style. Based on their past performance during national wars, although the command skills weren’t excessive, it wouldn’t be this poor. Yet now, the side led by Shalin seems like a clumsy general using childish tactics to conduct this war. Continuing this way, while our center route might advance a bit slower, Shalin is effectively destroying their own chance of future victory."
After hearing the staff member’s words, Soron showed a thoughtful expression, saying nothing for quite some time.
Clearly, he was also puzzled as to why Shalin would employ such rudimentary tactics.
In truth, according to his assumptions, Shalin’s most efficient method should be a direct assault on his staff department to dismantle this command center. Alternatively, concentrating elite forces for a powerful strike against the advancing troops, or perhaps assembling a group of Wizards to use Spells under the cover of night to decimate gathering resting soldiers.
For this reason, he had prepared multiple response plans at the staff department.
But the issue now was that Shalin wasn’t doing any of these things, rendering the plans useless.
It’s as if "your enemy being too foolish makes all your precautions redundant," which made him greatly uncomfortable.
The discomfort wasn’t due to the wasted plans but because all this was too abnormal.
In his view, Shalin couldn’t possibly be so inept; there must be some purpose or conspiracy behind this.
But what exactly could it be?
The staff department couldn’t understand, and neither could he.
So what should be done?
Soron took a deep breath, blinked, and turned to face the sand table, with all the staff members focusing their eyes on him.
With deep eyes, Soron gazed at the sand table for a long time, picked up a small red flag, planted it at the current position of the Central Army, and said in a deep voice, "Since we cannot guess Shalin’s intentions, then we won’t try—we’ll do our own things while they do theirs.
The center route has been hindered? Very well, we’ll pause the march, regroup, and gather strength. Once the rear nine thousand troops, high-end elite forces, and assets are in place, we’ll crush through in one go. I want to see how Shalin plans to stop us; I want to see how many more Black Knights they can send to infiltrate and meet their deaths."
"Yes," the staff members responded in unison.
...
Three days later.
Before the Chaotic Mountain Range.
Mario was on horseback, and the commander of the Red Maple Cavalry Group wasn’t far from him. At this moment, the entire Red Maple Cavalry Group was ready and waiting to engage in combat at any moment.
The reason being, a battle was taking place several hundred meters away.
Approximately three hundred of Shalin’s Black Knights were surrounded by over a thousand of the Alliance’s Blue-armored Magic Knights, locked in a fiercely intense battle.
To speak of it, these three hundred Black Knights from Shalin represented a rare large-scale offensive. Normally, they would inevitably cause significant losses to the Alliance Army. Unfortunately, these three hundred Black Knights happened to run into the reinforcements from the back, arriving Solid Stone Group.
The Solid Stone Group, an enhanced Magic Knight Group, encircled the three hundred Black Knights, attempting to annihilate them.
The Red Maple Cavalry Group, serving as one of the reserve forces, stood guard at the edge of the battlefield, ready to intercept any Black Knight attempting to break through.
However, it seemed unnecessary now; the Solid Stone Group, despite paying a considerable price, had already nearly wiped out all the Black Knights.
In the field of view, the last Black Knight, after losing his warhorse, launched a silent attack. But in the next moment, three Magic Rune Long Spears pierced through his body, bringing him down, never to rise again.
